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In this New Year’s episode, I explore the very real consequences of last year’s Past Year Review. Most notably, I decided to retire from a beloved community mental health clinic and launch Park West Integrative Psychiatry — sparked by a desire for creativity, continued learning, and a growing belief in integrative trauma-informed approaches such as EMDR, Internal Family Systems, ketamine-assisted therapy, hypnosis, and breath-based practices.

This episode reflects on how intentionally examining meaning and purpose can lead to significant life changes — changes that invite both opportunity and risk, excitement and fear.

To close the episode, I share a recording of my retirement speech from the clinic, which turns into an unexpected sing-along and a fitting ritual for marking the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

Chapters

0:13 — Nerves and a Big Career Pivot
 0:52 — Last Year’s Review and 2025 Intentions
 1:46 — Leaving a Beloved Community Clinic
 2:46 — Why Change Now, and What’s Next
 3:09 — New Directions in Trauma Treatment and Psychiatry
 4:05 — Building Park West Integrative Psychiatry
 5:02 — Fear, Complexity, and Finding Balance
 6:00 — A Cautious Note on Year-End Reviews
 6:20 — Reflections on Podcast Growth
 7:06 — Upcoming Group Therapies and Retreats
 7:54 — Yellowstone Lessons and Old Friends
 8:40 — Gratitude, Global Listeners, and What’s Next
 9:11 — Retirement Speech and Sing-Along

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 Developing Meaning is produced by Consilient Mind LLC.

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Happy New Year!  It's time to do a meaning inventory in order to set intentions for 2026.  Toward that end I am re-posting my meaning inventory from last year.  Our next episode will delve into how these unfolded and are leading to major career changes.

This episode invites listeners to engage in a meaningful past year review, turning away from traditional resolutions toward a more insightful approach to personal growth. By exploring the themes of beginner's mind, questioning assumptions, and the importance of consilience, Dr. Dirk Winter provides a framework for navigating mental health and self-discovery

We cover:.

• Dissecting the concept of a past year review 
• Sharing personal peaks and lows from 2024 
• Introducing guiding themes for 2025: beginner's mind, questioning assumptions, and consilience 
• Exploring the significance of various healing modalities 
• Challenging traditional mental health assumptions 
• Encouraging listeners to conduct their own past year review and set meaningful intentions 

Go ahead, do your past year review, get yourself maybe into some beginner's mind question patterns, look for areas of consilience, or come up with your own ideas or mantras for the coming year.

Them Music by The Thrashing Skumz
Produced by Dirk Winter

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Mike Mandel is a world-leading hypnotist with over 50 years of professional experience. He's performed nearly 5,000 stage shows, trained over 10,000 students at his Toronto hypnosis academy, and co-hosts the Brain Software podcast.

Our conversation bridges hypnosis, Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, pain management, and meaning-making—showing how different healing traditions can discover the same truths about how minds heal.

Whether you're a therapist curious about hypnosis, an IFS practitioner, or simply fascinated by how minds work and heal, this conversation will expand your understanding.

You'll hear:

• The "bungalow model" of ego states and stunning parallels with IFS therapy
• How hypnosis stopped a severe burn from forming (tiny firemen with liquid nitrogen!)
• The history of hypnosis from ancient Egypt to Milton Erickson
• Why you need at least three models of reality (not just one)
• How Mike reframed chronic pain from suffering into a reminder he's alive
• Kitchen surgery stories that will blow your mind
• Rapid-fire questions about meaning, legacy, and what matters most

⚠️ WARNING: Mike starts with a brief hypnotic demonstration. Pay attention—the more you focus, the more you'll experience it. We unpack how he did it at the end.

Key Timestamps

• 05:50 - The Forgetting Demonstration
• 07:28 - Ego States & The Bungalow Model
• 15:23 - IFS & Hypnosis: Stunning Parallels
• 21:50 - The Frozen Baby: A Profound Healing Story
• 35:25 - Pain vs. Suffering
• 40:52 - The Burn Treatment Story
• 45:55 - What IS Trance?
• 56:26 - History of Hypnosis: Mesmer to Erickson
• 1:07:44 - How the Forgetting Demo Worked
• 1:18:18 - Rapid-Fire Meaning Questions

Resources

• MikeMandelHypnosis.com
• Brain Software Podcast

Developing Meaning is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS and is NOT INTENDED AS MEDICAL ADVICE.

Theme Music by The Thrashing Skumz.

Produced by Dirk Winter and Caroline Hinton

Brought to you by Consilient Mind LLC.

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Joanne Twombly, LCSW and author of Trauma Informed Internal Family Systems, has been treating complex trauma and dissociative disorders for over 30 years. In this conversation, she explores how right-brain modalities such as EMDR, hypnosis, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) can sometimes heal what words cannot. We also discuss the evolution of dissociative disorder diagnoses, the book Sybil and false memory controversies, the limits of traditional talk therapy, and the deeper role of meaning in recovery.

Timestamps
0:00 Welcome to Trauma-Informed Healing
2:57 Understanding IFS and Parts Work
8:40 From MPD to Hypnosis: Joanne's Journey
15:19 Why Traditional Therapy Falls Short
21:07 Dissociative Disorders Explained
29:05 Deep Brain Reorienting and Body-Based Approaches
36:39 Working with Transference and Meaning
48:29 Final Wisdom: Purpose in Healing Work
1:15:54 Episode Closing and Next Month Preview

Produced by Dirk Winter.

Theme music by The Thrashing Skumz.

Developing Meaning is NOT medical advice and is not affiliated with any institution.

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What happens when you combine military experience, personal recovery, cutting-edge trauma therapies, and the healing power of nature? Beau Laviolette's remarkable journey answers this question through a story of transformation and purpose.

From the sugar cane fields of Louisiana to the Marine Corps and back again, Beau's path wasn't straightforward. After military service ended unexpectedly due to seizures, he faced addiction struggles that eventually led him to recovery and a calling to help others. This deeply personal experience became the foundation for his approach to trauma healing, combining Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy using the Syzyge method.

Beau takes us through his discovery of these powerful modalities and how they complement each other, particularly when working with complex trauma. While EMDR helps process traumatic memories, IFS provides the framework to understand the protective parts of ourselves that develop in response to trauma. This combination creates a comprehensive approach that addresses both neurobiological and psychological aspects of trauma recovery.

The conversation ventures into fascinating territory as Beau describes his veteran-focused nature retreats. These immersive experiences take healing beyond the constraints of office therapy, allowing veterans to "unplug, connect, and let go" in natural settings. He explains how nature inherently contains qualities that facilitate access to what IFS calls "self-energy" – our core self characterized by compassion, curiosity, and calm.

Developing Meaning is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS and is NOT INTENDED AS MEDICAL ADVICE.

Theme Music by The Thrashing Skumz.

Produced by Dirk Winter MD PhD and brought to you by Consilient Mind LLC.

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In this episode, I take you inside my experience of learning Internal Family Systems therapy while simultaneously navigating prostate cancer surgery and recovery during the fall and winter of 2023-24.

Through audio diary entries recorded over three months, you'll hear my real-time reflections as I move through an intensive experiential training that forced me to find and confront parts of myself. From the corporate retreat center where it all began to the post-surgical reflections in my bedroom, these recordings capture the disorientation, insight, and healing that unfolded as I allowed myself to be both student and subject.

This episode may be helpful for therapists considering IFS training or for anyone facing illness or supporting someone through health challenges.  It is the final episode in my five part series on my IFS level I training experience.

This episode of Developing Meaning is produced by Dirk Winter and Caroline Hinton and brought to you by Consilient Mind LLC.  

Developing Meaning is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS and NOT CLINICAL ADVICE.

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Margaret Conley, LCSW, Minister, and IFS Assistant Trainer, joins me to explore how trauma is passed down through families, culture, and society —and how we can heal. Drawing from her own powerful story, Margaret explains the Internal Family Systems (IFS) concept of legacy burdens and how she helps clients release inherited patterns related to race, religion, gender, and family history. This episode is part of my IFS Level 1 training series and offers deep insight into how healing across generations is not only possible—but transforms how we create meaning.

Timestamps
00:19 – Welcome to Developing Meaning
04:50 – Meet Margaret Connolly: Healer and Minister
12:40 – Childhood Trauma to Professional Path
27:20 – Discovering Internal Family Systems
47:30 – Understanding Legacy Burdens
1:04:40 – Creating Meaning Through Curiosity
1:14:10 – The Art of Repairing Relationships
1:19:30 – Final Thoughts: Moving at Speed of Trust

Them music by The Thrashing Skumz.

This episode is produced by Dirk Winter, Fariha Fawziah and Caroline Hinton and brought to you by Consilient Mind LLC.

Developing Meaning is NOT MEDICAL ADVICE and NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS.

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Can you imagine learning at 35 that you were adopted?  In this episode Ridghaus, my friend and Level I IFS Program Assistant, shares how this discovery transformed his sense of identity and led him to advocate for adoptee rights and communities.

We also explore the profound loss of his 18-year-old son and how he has grieved. Through our conversation, Ridghaus reflects on the "golden threads" that have guided him—moments of insight, connection, and healing. We discuss how Internal Family Systems (IFS) has played a role in his process, helping him hold space for his parts and for others in their own healing journeys.

This episode is part of a series on my Level I IFS training experience, in which I introduce the IFS model (#16), introduce my Lead Trainer Jory Agate (#17). Upcoming episodes will introduce another trainer Margaret Conley (#19), who is an expert in complex trauma and legacy burdens, and then an audiodiary (#20) will follow.  My intention in this series is to share this exciting new model of healing with classically trained therapists and anyone else curious about mental health and meaning.  

• Timestamps:
• 00:00:00 - Introduction to Developing Meaning and Ridgehouse
• 00:05:42 - Early Life: A Misfit in Kansas
• 00:17:28 - Discovering Adoption at Age 35
• 00:30:49 - Facing Unimaginable Loss and Grief
• 00:43:02 - First Encounter with Internal Family Systems
• 01:00:34 - Becoming a Healer: IFS and Identity Work
• 01:11:27 - Plateaus and Valleys of Meaning
• 01:15:33 - Final Reflections on Intention and Starting Over

Developing Meaning is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS, and is NOT MENTAL HEALTH ADVICE.

Theme Music by The Thrashing Skumz.

This episode was produced by Dirk Winter, Fariha Fawziah and Caroline Hinton and is brought to you by Consilient Mind LLC.

Send a text

This episode invites listeners to engage in a meaningful past year review, turning away from traditional resolutions toward a more insightful approach to personal growth. By exploring the themes of beginner's mind, questioning assumptions, and the importance of consilience, Dr. Dirk Winter provides a framework for navigating mental health and self-discovery in 2025.

• Dissecting the concept of a past year review 
• Sharing personal peaks and lows from 2024 
• Introducing guiding themes for 2025: beginner's mind, questioning assumptions, and consilience 
• Exploring the significance of various healing modalities 
• Challenging traditional mental health assumptions 
• Encouraging listeners to conduct their own past year review and set meaningful intentions 

Go ahead, do your past year review, get yourself maybe into some beginner's mind question patterns, look for areas of consilience, or come up with your own ideas or mantras for the coming year.

Them Music by The Thrashing Skumz
Produced by Dirk Winter

Send a text

The Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level I training is an experiential group learning process that teaches us how to identify and heal traumatized parts of ourselves and others.  In October 2023 I began this training after having recently received a prostate cancer diagnosis.  This episode begins a multi - part series in which I introduce you to fascinating healers I met during my Level I training, beginning with Jory Agate my Lead Trainer.

Jory is a minister, IFS lead trainer, a kind and gifted healer, and so much more.  In this episode she offers a compelling narrative of how IFS therapy reaches beyond conventional boundaries, touching the lives of clergy, trans and queer communities, and trauma survivors. Together, we explore connections between faith and therapeutic healing.  Join me as I begin my journey into the land of IFS and begin to transform into an IFS therapist myself.

Timestamps
00:17 Introducing Jory Agate.
07:30 What is IFS?
12:40 Spirituality and IFS.
15:00 How Jory became a healer.
21:00 How Jory found IFS and healed her trauma.
32:00 Jory describes her professional practice.
36:00 What does a session with Jory look like?
39:00 Connecting IFS, Meaning, and Healing.
47:00 Connecting through shared Exiles, and wrap up.

Theme music by the Thrashing Skumz!

This podcast is NOT MEDICAL ADVICE and is NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY INSTITUTIONS.